Wives & Daughters is another film I have wanted to see for a long time but just haven't been able to get my hands on.
I found it on YouTube (I know, I know) and couldn't help watching all of it.
I adore Elizabeth Gaskell and I had read quite a bit of Wives and Daughters before but had no idea how the story would end.
The plot of the family relationship of widowed father who married again, step-mother and step-sister, are familiar. But what a different step-sister!
I was also glad to see Tom Hollander in a role where he wasn't a rouge (I've only seen him in Pride & Prejudice and Pirates of the Caribbean). I cried so much at his tragic end, I loved his character as much as Molly did.
The ending surprised me and I was a bit disappointed in the lack of physical contact (even after their marriage) but pleased that it was kept clean and true love, friendship and purity were prized above all else. The beauty of the film, the costumes and the story line.
Elizabeth Gaskell's plots always surprise me, similar to other plots but so completely different in many ways. If you've never seen it before...this will definitely be on my Christmas list! :)
Ah, yes, Wives and Daughters is a beautiful miniseries. . . I don't like it as much as I do North and South or Pride and Prejudice '95, but it's still lovely in its own way.
ReplyDeleteI bought the dvds a couple of months ago and loved them! I've since bought the book, too. Haven't gotten round to reading it yet, but it's on my 'to-read' list!
I watched Wives and Daughters a while ago. I liked it. I'll definitely watch it again.
ReplyDeleteSome great lines in this film :) And I like how the father calls the daughter goosey!
ReplyDeleteI saw parts of the series 1999 on TV in Great Britain but all of it, because I went home for Christmas to Switzerland... I bought the book and was fighting my way through it... I desperatly wanted to know how the story ends! But you know what! After taking up the book again and again, after about 5 years I came to the end of the book... and there is no happy end... because Elizabeth Gaskell died, before she could finish the book!
ReplyDeleteNow I own these DVDs... Molly amazes me again and again. She is so pure in heart, and such a true friend! And the characters and feelings and misunderstandings are discribed so well... It´s almost heartbreaking...
The book is worth reading anyway, it is so beautiful, and you can make up your own Happy End...